Dr McAlpine said they used an advanced climate modelling system
based at the CSIRO, satellite data and DNRW resources to show that
150 years of land clearing added "significantly" to the warming and
drying of eastern Australia.

"Our work shows that the 2002-03 El Nino drought in eastern
Australia was on average two degrees hotter because of vegetation
clearing," Dr McAlpine said.

"Based on this research, it would be fair to say that the
current drought has been made worse by past clearing of native
vegetation."

The research's co-authors are the UQ's Dr Hamish McGowan,
Associate Professor Stuart Phinn and Dr Ravinesh Deo as well as Dr
Peter Lawrence of the University of Colorado and Dr Ian Watterson
of CSIRO.

Dr McAlpine said their research showed average summer rainfall
decreased by between four and 12 per cent in eastern Australia, and
four and eight per cent in south-west Western Australia - regions
that have had the most extensive clearing over the years.

He said eastern Australia was between 0.4 and two degrees
warmer, and south-west WA was between 0.4 and 0.8 degrees
warmer.

"Native vegetation moderates climate fluctuations and this has
important, largely unrecognised consequences for agriculture and
stressed land and water resources," Dr McAlpine said.

"Australian native vegetation holds more moisture that
subsequently evaporates and recycles back as rainfall.

"It also reflects into space less short-wave solar radiation ...
and this process keeps the surface temperature cooler and aids
cloud formation."

The study titled "Modelling Impacts of Vegetation Cover Change
on Regional Climate" will be published later this year in
Geophysical Research Letters, the journal of the American
Geophysical Union.